Market sentiment was weaker coming into 2017 versus the start of 2016, with the number of job vacancies in the UAE dropping by 33% in the first quarter of the year, experts said.

According to the latest Middle East Jobs Index from recruitment agency Robert Walters, there was a 3% increase in advertised job vacancies quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2017, Arabian Business reported.

The total number of advertised positions decreased from 5,786 in the first three months of 2016 to 3,890 in the first quarter this year.

In addition, there were a total of 3,789 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2016, rising to 3,890 by the end of March, the report said.

Jason Grundy, country head at Robert Walters Middle East, said: “While market conditions remain challenging for some sectors, especially legal and banking and we note the reduced number of roles between both years, I am pleased to see some sectors, in particular supply chain and sales and marketing, are seeing an increase in the vacancies advertised.”

The strongest sectors in terms of job growth include procurement and supply chain in the last quarter at 35%, as well as sales and marketing with 12% growth, according to the report.

Grundy highlighted that although the number of vacancies fell year on year, there have been “evident signs of improvement in 2017, driven by a more stable oil price in the UAE over the past two months”.

He added that overall market sentiment was weaker coming into 2017 compared to the start of 2016, and companies had already been cautious in the previous quarter as they looked to make up budgets through cost savings.